Jan Frycz Movies

Prominent cinematographer Christopher Doyle continues to hone his talents as a director with this thriller set in Eastern Europe and inspired by the as-yet-unsolved murder of a Polish politician in 2001. A young prostitute (Anna Przybylska) is spending the evening with a prominent Polish official when he's suddenly assassinated in Warsaw. In the aftermath of the hit, the triggerman takes the prostitute to an apartment and subjects her to a complex personality replacement program designed to wipe out any memories she may have retained about the evening's events. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

With the Polish-language drama Hope (2007), scribe and longtime Kieslowski collaborator Krzysztof Piesiewicz resurrects the tone, feel and themes of their classic Decalogue, by scripting a highly cerebral meditation on morality and ethos. Rafal Fundalej stars as Francis, a clever idealist who works in a church alongside his janitor dad. Late one night, Francis borrows his girlfriend Clare's (Kamilla Baar) video camera, to catch a dangerous art thief, Benedict (Wojciech Pszoniak) lifting an ancient tile from the building. Before long, the young man reaps the vengeance of the burglar, who blows up Francis's car as an obvious and vitriolic threat; the latter merely demands that the culprit replace the artifact and replace the vehicle. Meanwhile, a slightly oafish cop, Sopel (Zbigniew Zamachowski) learns of the goings-on and closes in on Benedict himself. Stanislaw Mucha directs. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Award-winning Polish director Marek Koterski takes an unflinching look at the pathological effects of severe alcoholism on familial relationships in the no-holds-barred drama We're All Christs (Wszyscy jestes'my Chrystusami). The story concerns Adas (played at ages 33 and 55 by Andrzej Chyra, and Marek Kondrat, respectively), a father caught in the web of alcohol addiction passed down from the generations before him. The disease once threatened to destroy his own relationship with his young son. Now, after admitting his own problem and experiencing therapy and rehabilitation, Adas takes the first steps toward a challenging reconnection with his family and attempts to rebuild long-decimated bonds. As a lapsed Roman Catholic, he begins to turn toward the faith that he shunned as a youth, and recognizes the necessity of turning away from the evil, abusive legacy of his father on earth and toward his Heavenly Father as a far-superior alternative. In the end, his Catholicization will partially entail turning to Christ as a role model by assuming responsibility for his own earthly burdens (and thus, taking up his cross). ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Based on the novel by Witold Gombrowicz, writer/director Jan Jakub Kolski's Pornography is set in the Polish countryside during WWII. Witold (Adam Ferency), the narrator, is at a gathering of his intellectual artist friends in Warsaw, where he meets Frederick (Krzysztof Majchrzak), a mysterious, but charming, stranger. They hit it off, so Witold invites Frederick along as he goes to visit the home of his friend Hipolit (Krzysztof Globisz) and his wife Maria (Grazyna Blecka-Kolska). Witold and Frederick become obsessed with arranging the coupling of Hipolit's beautiful teenage daughter, Henia (Sandra Samos), and an equally beautiful young man, Karol (Kazimierz Mazur), who is working at the farm. But Henia is engaged to Vaclav (Grzegorz Damiecki), who is visiting with his deeply religious mother, Amelia (Irena Laskowska). As the two middle-aged gentlemen scheme, Germans fight with the Polish resistance, led by Siemian (Jan Frycz), in the woods nearby. Hipolit supports the resistance and his household is thrown into chaos when he is ordered to "liquidate" Siemian to prevent him from talking if he's captured by the Germans. Meanwhile, Frederick's obsession with Veronika, a pretty young maid at the house, masks a dark secret from his past. Pornography was shown at the 2003 Venice Film Festival and selected for the 2003 New York Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

This Polish slice-of-life film, set in pre-WW II, offers a glimpse of life in a small resort where two social classes converge. On one hand there is the elite class of bourgeoisie tourists who come there to paint, write, and reflect upon their deserved fortune. On the other, there are the peasants who are at the mercy of the tourists. In one scene a tourist woman marches into a peasant home and begins talking art off the walls. In another, an aspiring artiste demands a peasant child pose barefoot in polluted water. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this at times illogical film, while trying to regain his memory, an amnesiac wanders around trying to avoid some thugs who seem to want to do him in. It seems that he lost his memory in the first place as a result of injuries he suffered from a beating by two ex-policemen. They thought him dead, but are now concerned that he will remember who they are and identify him. His only safe refuge is with a homeless bag lady who claims to have been the toast of Paris in her heyday. As the thugs draw nearer, the fugitive regains his memory, only to discover that the life he once had has vanished for good. This story is reportedly a political allegory about modern Poland. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi